The National Hurricane Center is ‘fully staffed’―or is it?

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Congress this week that the National Hurricane Center is fully staffed heading into the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, Bloomberg writes. 

“There are no openings on the National Hurricane Center. Zero,” Lutnick said during a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting. “We are fully staffed. We are fully ready for hurricane season.”

But the center’s own website lists at least four vacant meteorologist positions, raising concerns as the season begins with predictions of above-average storm activity. Staffing levels are under sharper scrutiny this year amid a hiring freeze and major workforce reductions at weather agencies under the Trump administration.

“The National Weather Service… has a sufficient number of forecasters to fill mission-critical operational shifts during the 2025 hurricane season,” the agency said in a statement, noting that short-term staff reassignments are underway and hiring exceptions are being made for critical roles.

Veteran meteorologist John Morales of Miami’s NBC-6 voiced concern, saying, “I have begun to have doubts because of the cuts, the gutting, the sledge-hammer attack on science in general.”

Since 1980, hurricanes have caused $1.5 trillion in U.S. losses.

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